Hatoyama vows tough greenhouse gas cuts
JAPAN: Japan’s next Prime Minister on Monday vowed tough greenhouse
gas cuts for the world’s number two economy as he prepared to name key
cabinet posts ahead of taking power next week.
Yukio Hatoyama whose centre-left Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ)
defeated a conservative party in a landslide election eight days earlier
said his government would take an aggressive global stance on climate
change.
| Fact file
* New Govt plans more people -
friendly policies
* To finance social welfare
system
* To cut Green house gas
* To tackle bereuearcy
|
Japan would seek to cut its emissions by 25 percent by 2020 from 1990
levels a cut far deeper than that pledged by the outgoing
business-friendly government of Prime Minister Taro Aso. “Our nation
will strongly call on major countries around the world to set aggressive
goals,” said Hatoyama, 62, who last week suggested that Japan would seek
a greater voice in international diplomacy.
The premier-in-waiting, who is due to take office on September 16, is
planning to detail his plan, which he dubbed the ‘Hatoyama Initiative,’
at a UN meeting on climate change in New York later this month. Japan
will officially present its target at international talks in Copenhagen
in December aimed at agreeing a follow-up treaty to the Kyoto Protocol
which expires in 2012. Japan is the fifth largest emitter of greenhouse
gases which are blamed for raising global temperatures, melting the
earth’s ice caps and glaciers, and changing weather patterns.
“What we need in international negotiations is that politicians in
the world assume responsibility in order to firmly prevent climate
change and protect peace and stability at global levels,” Hatoyama said.
His Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) was meanwhile gearing up to
approve top cabinet appointments, including those of foreign and finance
ministers, at their Tokyo party headquarters. Hatoyama has vowed to
shake up Japan’s government system and make politics more “people-centred.”
Tokyo, Monday, AFP |
